Twitter Asked By Modi Govt To Block Politicians, Journalists, Farmers' Protest Sympathisers: Report

The Centre reportedly asked Twitter to block posts from members of the Indian National Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.

The Twitter account of Kisan Ekta Morcha was seen to be withheld at the time of writing.

Source : Screenshot/Twitter/@Kisanektamorcha

New Delhi: Twitter on Sunday filed a document that claimed that the government had asked the social media company to block several accounts and a handful of tweets from the non-profit advocacy group Freedom House, politicians, journalists, as well as sympathisers of last year’s farmers’ protest, as reported by the Press Trust of India. The report comes soon after journalist Rana Ayyub flagged that her Twitter account was withheld by the platform in accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Twitter filed the document with Lumen Database, which collects and analyses legal complaints and requests for removal of online materials. It showed that the government sent the requests between January 5 and December 29 last year. PTI reported that details on whether the requests were fulfilled were not available on the database.

Freedom House conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights including freedom of speech and expression on the Internet on a global scale. As per the Twitter document, the platform was asked to block some tweets from Freedom House that focussed on the state of online freedom in 2020, noting its sharp decline in India.

The Centre also asked Twitter to block posts from members of the Indian National Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, including MLA Jarnail Singh. The account of Kisan Ekta Morcha was also asked to be requested. The said Twitter account was seen to be withheld at the time of writing.

Farmers’ union umbrella body Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) released a statement against the blocking requests made by the government. “Samyukta Kisan Morcha strongly opposes and condemns the withholding of Twitter accounts allied with the farm movement on the instructions of the Union Government. Twitter has withheld about a dozen Twitter accounts in India, including the Twitter handle @kisanektamorcha allied with the Farm Movement, without any warning,” SKM said.

ALSO SEE: Twitter 'Withholds' Journalist Rana Ayyub's Account In India After 'Legal Request'

Along with Ayyub, Australian journalist CJ Werleman’s Twitter account was also withheld. The Asia chapter of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a tweet, “Twitter complying with the Indian government's directive to withhold journalist @RanaAyyub's tweet and block columnist @cjwerleman's account in India are part of an unacceptable new trend of censorship on social media. This must stop! Journalists' voices are essential for a democracy.”